Radical fallacies

What do I think about supposed pro-lifers who kill abortionists? I think they’re not pro-life. They may call themselves pro-life, but they are not.

I bring this up because on December 27, the front page story in the National Post intends to examine the beliefs of fringe pro-lifers and discusses their murderous actions as acts of faith.

These lunatics make for easy targets, and deserve the scorn, derision and life sentences in prison they receive.

I call them lunatics: But this is not to say I believe that those who commit lunatic acts—like killing abortionists—are crazy. Quite the contrary—they often follow a set of beliefs they believe to be rational and logical. I’ll turn to another National Post columnist today to explain what I mean: “There is bad philosophy, and bad ethics and bad theology—just as there is bad science. They produce ideas which are false—and all false ideas of consequence are eventually dangerous.” That’s Father Raymond de Souza for you—far more eloquent than I’ll ever be.

In this vein, killing abortionists is the dangerous consequence of bad philosophy and bad ethics.

And while we’re on the topic of bad beliefs, there’s plenty of ‘em out there, firmly embedded in our current zeitgeist. It’s the purpose of this group to combat just one of them: The radical idea grounded in extreme utilitarianism that abortion helps women.

I raise my glass (but far away from my laptop so as not to spill on the keyboard): A toast to fighting bad ideas, no matter how they manifest themselves, no matter how popular they become.

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